A Sailor’s Possessions

The sea breast is a common piece of corporeal acculturation seen among stereotypes of pirates and sailors in the Age of Sail. many people imagine a variety show of items locked away within these chests, from fascinating tools of the seafaring trades to treasure plundered during many adventures at ocean. In the kingdom of stories about pirates, Billy Bones owns the most celebrated sea thorax of all fictional pirates. In Robert Lewis Stevenson ’ mho Treasure Island, in the first place published as a serial in Young Folks cartridge holder from October of 1881 to January of 1882, Bones was the first teammate of the commandeer Captain John Flint. The outside of Billy ’ s sea thorax was, “ slightly besotted and broken as by long, rough in use, ” with a “ B ” burned to its crown. Stevenson described the contents of the sea chest in detail, including items concerning the fib ’ s treasure, such as Bones ’ score ledger, a bar of ash grey, a cup of tea of coins, and a treasure map. Beyond these pieces concerning the care for, the chest contained a befit of clothes, “ a quadrant, a can canikin, respective sticks of tobacco, two couple of very big pistols, …an old spanish watch and some other trinkets of little prize and by and large of alien gain, a pair of compasses mounted with administration, and five or six curious West indian shells… [ and ] Underneath there was an erstwhile boat-cloak, whitened with sea-salt on many a harbor bar. ” 1 Contents such as these are distinctive by the standards of the modern pigeonhole of sailors and pirates in the Golden Age of Piracy. When compared to the historic record, with exception to the treasure items, how accurate is Stevenson ’ mho depicting ? What did anglo-american sailors or pirates of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries own ? broadly address, some sailors of the earned run average did own the kind of items seen in Stevenson ’ s stereotyped sea thorax. however, examining the diachronic record for traces of sailors ’ possessions provides some insight into the lives of mariners in this earned run average .
What possessions a bluejacket owned depended on their fiscal circumstances, voyage length, and finish. Sailors fallen on hard times, frivolous spenders, or mariners forced into the british Royal Navy might own nothing more than the clothes on their back. These desperate cases did not apply to all sailors, with many finding ways to afford supplies ahead of voyages. For any mariner cook for sea, clothing sit high on the list of essential supplies. Longer voyages required more clothes. Expeditions to cold climates required the use of affectionate garments, while sailors headed to tropical regions might buy lighter clothes. invest did not last long at sea. It took only a count of months for garments to deteriorate into rags because of wear from use and the harsh maritime environment. It did not take long for mariners to deplete some garments such as shoes and shirts. On nation, shirts and footwear normally wore out after six months of heavy use. The salt, damp, and potential humid air out at ocean contributed to quicker periods of deterioration. Outer garments, particularly those of wool, fared little better with lifespans of one or two years.2 A detailed description of the garments sailors wear in this period could fill an integral record. For those fortunate enough to have funds, accredit, and clock time before a voyage, a mariner might spend £2 or more on clothes. It took common sailors over a calendar month to make this total of money when earning wages at sea. In the 1710s, boater John Cremer, with the help of a friend ’ south wife, purchased, “ Shirts, Stockings, Hankerchifs & vitamin c, with a Chest, which she did anuf Suitabile for me for two Years, ” for forty shillings.3
Sailors besides obtained clothing and supplies while on voyages. Service at sea frequently posed the menace of debt in addition to the dangers of drowning or conflict. If a mariner did not possess adequate clothes, both the dark blue and merchant services featured pursers and transport owners will to sell sailors clothing, at a steep cost. The united states navy and civilian embark owners deducted the monetary value of these clothes from wages, to the disadvantage of sailors much paying well beyond production price and distinctive retail prices for these raw garments at ocean. For this reason, sailors tried to purchase invest and supplies onshore. The purser stood as the last option for many mariners, some waiting american samoa long as possible before purchasing the overprice clothes. Sailors could besides buy extra alcohol, food, or tobacco at sea against their wages. Some sailors purchased indeed many things that they fell into debt. ship owners in New England often forced their mariners operating in the fish industry off Newfoundland into debt servitude through the sale of invest and supplies to their crews.4 Some sailors did buy extra food and drink before setting out to sea. When mariner John Hedley borrowed money from his brother to outfit himself for a voyage, Hedley purchased fifteen gallons of brandy and fifty dollar bill pounds of cheese.5 Patrick Cardills besides purchased brandy and “ solid waters ” in addition to, “ shirts capps and other cloths and necessaries ” when he obtained forty shillings worth of credit to prepare for his sea voyage.6
Sailors besides required hammocks and bedding for service at ocean. By 1680, sailors no longer slept on the ship ’ sulfur decks and used analyze hammocks for their beds.7 While sailors could sleep in their elementary hammocks without bed, sailors often owned mattresses, blankets, and pillows to use in their hammocks. Bedding was a common possession for sailors, second alone to invest. The captain of John Cremer ’ sulfur vessel in 1710, looking out for his new youthful crewmember, allowed Cremer to charge twelve shillings for the bed he would need for their voyage against his wages so Cremer could use the rest of his funds for clothes and other supplies.8 Some wealthier sailors expended money for the luxuries of pillowcases, sometimes referred to as pillow beres ( or pillow beers ), and bed sheets. The navy sold bedding to their sailors as well. The Admiralty ’ s General Printed Instructions provides one of the few descriptions of this bed : “ the Bed is to be five Feet eight Inches long, and two Feet two Inches broad ; both the Bed and Pillow to be of dependable Hammel ’ s Cloth, and not to have in them less than eleven Pounds of dependable fairly Flock, nor to weigh together less than thirteen Pounds ; and the Coverlet to be six Feet two inches long and four feet nine inches broad, well work, and not to weigh less than six Pounds, at the Rate of eleven Shillings for each Suit. ” 9

For sailors, and much of the lower class, clothing and bed made up the huge majority of the possessions and wealth they owned. It was park for a boater ’ mho entire assets to be worth £10 or less.10 Many of the inventories of dead person sailors ’ possessions during the late seventeenth and early eighteen centuries only list clothing and bed. This is not surprise, since many sailors much found themselves in situations where they lived a precarious hand-to-mouth life style, preferring good drink in or better food to clothes and wealth while at ocean. Sailors during this earned run average had a repute for trading aside their invest and leaving themselves light of excess overdress late on in their voyages. It is likely why period satirist Edward Ward said, “ if he [ the sailor ] have Money, or Credit, or but a Rag to his Buttocks, he ’ ll depart with all, to purchase a sucking Bout that Night, where he drinks to the memory of his Concubine so heartily. ” 11
not all sailors found themselves broken, as probate inventory collections demonstrate. While inventories over represent the wealthiest sailors in the maritime community, they besides show the variety show of items a sailor of means could own outdoor of dress and bedding material. many members of the lower class could not read or write, but not all were illiterate. Those sailors who owned books, including bibles, prayer books, books used in seafaring such as atlases or waggoners, journals, text on seamanship, and other publications demonstrated the self-control of literacy. Sailors with journals and those who wrote letters family carried pens or quills, pen-knives, ink, ink pots, paper, and early writing supplies.12 The sailors that owned books about seafaring often owned navigational tools a well, including gunter scales, quadrants, forestaffs, dividers, and compasses. While none of these inventories noted the ownership of wooden plates or mugs, which might be an indicator of not having enough respect to warrant inclusion body on inventories or that sailors used tableware owned by the ship, the ownership of alloy utensils and equipment did appear on some inventories. This included forks, knives, spoons, scissors, porringers, plates, mugs, and basins. To repair invest, an all-important job for mariners at sea, some sailors owned needles and thread. The inventories found for this survey did not mention the kind of tools sailors used at sea for working on sails and ropes, such as sailmaking needles, hooks, marlinespikes, and fids. One possible explanation is these tools belonged to the ship, which is often the lawsuit with sailmakers needles since they appear in several tilt of supplies obtained for vessels.13 Another explanation is the inventory keepers did not deem it worthwhile to record the bearing of these tools since they held little fiscal value and concentrated on more traditional probate inventory items such as invest or sleep together. Some of these sailors recorded in inventories might besides not be in positions warranting owning these tools, such as mates, gunners, or cooks. early small personal items such as towels, walking canes, or simple rings for fingers are besides not unheard of among sailors .
Two other categories of items that some, but not all, sailors possessed are trade goods and weapons. merchant vessels engaged in craft might see some of their sailors make their own fiscal ventures by obtaining goods stingily in one interface and then sell them off in another port where there was higher demand. The kinds of goods a boater might acquire in the path of a ocean trip included sugar, bone, East Indian spices, fabric, craft beads, and trinkets. For sailors onboard commerce raiding privateers that held commissions as secret man-of-war, some vessels offered extra shares to men who provided their own weaponry. alternatively of one share, a sailor bringing his own musket might gain an addition fraction of a share at the end of a voyage.14 Pirates besides obtained their own weaponry. This is particularly noteworthy in accounts of Bartholomew Roberts ’ pirate crew, which features rules demanding crewmembers keeping personal weaponry match for service in fight and awarded firearms to men who sighted potential prizes .
Sailors who owned more than the suit of clothes on their backs used canvass bags, ocean chests, and their pockets to store their private property when not in use. If the sailor had only a few possessions, a bluejacket likely kept his possessions in his pockets or inside hammocks when packed away. The mariner ’ sulfur pockets likely held some of his smaller possessions regardless of wealth, including their knives. The sailor ’ s knife was an essential joyride at sea. even in the navy, mariners could soon expect to gain a tongue. By the 1690s, the proverb of “ going to Sea for a Knife and Sheath, ” floated around those who served in the united states navy. Mariners entering the united states navy service much received small more than a knife for their function in the navy because of deductions for purchasing clothe and the use of the ticket system to pay off sailors at their discharge.15 If they owned enough possessions, sailors might sew together canvass bags to store their possessions. As meter progressed, dark blue vessels encouraged sailors to use bags over sea chests. Chests took up more board and made it more unmanageable to clear ships for struggle. The keeping of sea chests up on decks rather that down in the hold for the duration of voyages required the united states navy to regulate the number of chests allowed onboard. On the HMS Assistance, the captain regulated each mess of sailors to entirely two ocean chests and had any extra ones stoved in and throw out.16 The merchant serve did not restrict ocean chests like the united states navy. Mariners with many valuable possessions, including trade goods, desired ocean chests for the security, room, and the protective covering they offered. Chests besides doubled as benches and tables while at sea. These chests featured a elementary purpose consisting of six boards. Some chests included a modest cashbox box merely below the chest ’ sulfur hat. structure of these chests did not take long for veteran carpenters. Probate inventories tended to value used sea chests at a minor three or four shillings each, far suggesting ease and manipulation of cheap materials in their construction .
Sailors could own a variety of goods and possessions in their service at sea. A large dowry of their private property was either clothe or go to bed. Some mariners, specialists, and rising civilian officers, owned more than the essentials. Returning to the fabricated example of Billy Bones ’ sea chest, each item Robert Lewis Stevenson lists in the fictional commandeer ’ sulfur thorax is plausible, excluding those related to the fib ’ s prize diagram. Bones early function as a first spouse explains his ownership of the quadrant, circumnavigate, and even the report bible he paired with the gem map. The tin canikin refers to a drink can made of canister, a relevant detail for a bluejacket. Billys ’ tobacco would have been common among sailors, mariners being some of the first Europeans to smoke this imported New World addiction. Since Bones was a plagiarist, owning the two braces pistols is fair, since pirates and privateers alike personally armed themselves. As for the spanish watch, pocket watches did exist during the Golden Age of Piracy among the affluent, though said watches did not keep prison term well compared to ones in the later eighteenth hundred. Bones likely gained the watch as a musical composition of loot during his plagiarist career. finally, shells and trinkets are plausible items since a sailor can sell them, but might hold bathetic rate to the owner. evening the ocean chest itself bears markings similar to a chest mentioned in a probate inventory of another first base checkmate. Billy Bones marked the outside of his breast with, “ the initial “ B. ” burned on the top of it with a hot iron. ” 17 John Chapman, the headman mate of the slave vessel Daniel and Henry, died of a illness, potentially malaria, at ocean on October 9, 1700. He owned two sea chests, both marked with his initials, “ J C. ” 18 Treasure Island is known for its function in establishing many stereotypes about commandeer history and mariners of the Golden Age of Piracy that exist to this day. Though contained within a history with these stereotypes, the description of a sea breast ’ second contents still stands as reasonable. Why did Stevenson get this depicting correct ? More than likely, Stevenson had close familiarity with ocean chests and their contents that the sailors of his own clock time used. Since sailors of the late nineteenth hundred faced many of the like needs and circumstances of mariners from two hundred years prior, it is not storm that Stevenson constructed an accurate translation of a bluejacket ’ randomness possessions .
addendum : This mail was inspired by a question asked by Tim Clark of the State of Michigan, the United States of America. Considering I frequently encountered the possessions of sailors in my study of nautical clothe for my Master ’ s dissertation, I concluded this would be a good doubt to answer in the form of a post on this web log.

Endnotes:

1. Robert Lewis Stevenson,Treasure Island (London: Cassell and Company, 1883), 32-33.
2. John Styles, The Dress of the People: Everyday Fashion in Eighteenth-Century England (New Haven,CT: Yale University Press, 2007), 72-73.
3. John Cremer, Ramblin’ Jack: The Journal of Captain John Cremer, 1700-1774, transcribed by R. Reynell Bellamy (London: Jonathan Cape Ltd., 1936), 75-76.
4. Daniel Vickers, “Maritime Labor in Colonial Massachusetts: A Case Study of the Essex County Cod Fishery and the Whaling Industry of Nantucket, 1630-1775,” (Ph.D. diss., Princeton University, 1981), 175; Marcus Rediker, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: Merchant Seamen, Pirates, and the Anglo-American Maritime World, 1700-1750 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987), 143.
5. Probate Inventory of John Hedley, of the Joseph and Jacob, June 19, 1699. PROB 5/204, TNA.
6. Probate Inventory of Patrick Cardills, Mariner of the HMS Royall Sovrainge, February 17, 1693. PROB 32/32/76, TNA.
7. Brian Lavery, The Arming and Fitting of English Ships of War, 1600-1815 (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1987), 179-180.
8. Cremer, Ramblin’ Jack, 75-76.
9. The Commissioners for Executing the Office of Lord High Admiral of Great Britain and Ireland, &c and of all His Majesty’s Plantations, &c. General Instructions to be observed by [the Captains] appointed [to his Majesty’s Ships] ([N. p.], [c.1715].), 39. The “Bed” here refers to the mattress, and “for each suit” refers to a set, which included a mattress, pillow, and coverlet (or blanket).
10. Peter Earle, Sailors: English Merchant Seamen, 1600-1750 (London: Methuen, 2007), 55-56.
11. Edward Ward, The Wooden World Dissected (London: Printed by H. Meere, 1707), 102.
12. Sailors wishing to raise up the ranks to command or navigate a vessel needed to be literate for management and navigation. Determining a more exact ratio of literate to illiterate sailors is difficult, though some historians have attempted and failed to accomplish this task by using signatures as an indicator of illiteracy.
13. Des Pawson, Sailmaker’s Needles, Museum of Knots & Sailor’s Ropework: Monograph #3 (Ipswich, UK: Footrope Knots, 2010), 10-11.
14. “Deposition of Thomas Larimore, October 28, 1695,” in John Franklin Jameson, Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period: Illustrative Documents (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1923), 152-153. See also the Notes and Errata of The Sea Rover’s Practice by Benerson Little published online May 6, 2013 for page 33.
15. George St. Lo, England’s Safety: Or, A Bridle to the French King, 2nd ed. (London: W. Miller, 1693), 17.
16. Henry Teonge, The Diary of Henry Teonge, Chaplain on Board His Majesty’s Ships Assistance, Bristol, and Royal Oak, 1675-1679, G. E. Manwaring ed. (London: Harper & Brothers, 1927), 42.
17. Stevenson, Treasure Island, 32.
18. Nigel Tattersfield, The Forgotten Trade: Comprising the Log of the Daniel and Henry of 1700 and Accounts of the Slave Trade from the Minor Ports of England, 1698-1725 (London: Jonathan Cape, 1991), 163, 165.

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